At your headstone
by Talented but Lazy
Summary: Sasuke says goodbye to an old friend.


_Kind of short, and probably** really inaccurate** but this is the first time I write for this fandom in about 5 years, and this idea has been haunting me for about a month so please bear with me._

* * *

Looking down at the monument stone in front of him, Sasuke let out a long sigh. So this was where he lay. Hesitating for a moment, the last Uchiha sat down on the cold ground in front of it.

He reached out and carefully placed the bouquet of sunny flowers he'd picked during the day, right in front of where it read "_Uzumaki Naruto, bravest hero of the Village hidden in the Leaves"_

It was hard, looking at the cold stone over a head so full of ideas, a man so full of life and energy.

Finally, Sasuke spoke, his usually calm voice quivering with sorrow he wasn't even trying to hide. He was alone, after all, he could let it out.

'Today I was let out on a walk. Of course, I had guards with me, but I guess it wasn't bad to walk around a bit. I managed to pick up these, from Ino.' He smiled slightly, touching the flowers. 'Everyone, even she, looks at me with hate and fear.' A small chuckle left his lips. 'I guess I can finally understand a part of what _you've_ gone through.'

'Tsunade decided to retire and, well I think you can guess who the new Hokage is. Yeah, it's Sakura.' The man shifted a bit closer to the stone. 'People are still wary of me so I can't walk around freely. She keeps me under constant surveillance. That's why I come so rarely and at night. I'm probably being watched right now as well… Whatever.'

He stopped talking and looked up. The clouds parted just enough to let the full moon shine. Keeping his gaze on the moon, he continued. 'We've made sure that everyone knows what you did. You are the hero of the Land of Fire and everybody knows your name. Too bad… you aren't here to see that... Everyone finally respects you.'

He felt his eyes starting to burn.

'Why did you have to be a hero? Why is it always you being a hero?' Sasuke punched the ground next to him, hitting stone and probably fracturing bones, but he didn't care.

A painful drop fell to the ground, quickly followed by many others. Sasuke didn't even try to hold his tears any longer and hunched over the stone as they poured out.

'I never got to tell you that I ... I'm talking to a slab of stone.' He let out a short laugh. 'And you can't hear me. I don't even know what... God, does it even matter how I feel?'

But as he was about to punch the ground again, the clouds parted just enough for moon's pale light to fall on the polished stone and get Sasuke's attention. He looked up and saw something next to a tree. Furiously rubbing his eyes to make his blurry vision better, he saw it was a human figure. Wearing orange. With bright yellow hair. Nar-

No, this was some sort of genjutsu. It couldn't be anything else. _Well of course_, he had left his guard down.

But before he could think anything else, the figure opened its mouth and Sasuke braced himself for whatever it was going to say, expecting nothing good.

'Hey there Sasuke.'

The dark-haired man got up, ready to defend himself and the headstone.

'Who are you?' He asked, 'What do you want here?'

'Hey, calm down. It's me. Naruto.'

'N, Naruto is dead! What do you want here, _imposter_?'

He was about to say something else, but the one impersonating Naruto was suddenly right in front of Sasuke, and he just froze.

'What I want is to tell you that I know how you feel and feel the same way, and I'm sorry. But hey, I'll wait for you, though don't come too soon.' He smiled widely, the way only Naruto could. 'I really am glad to have been your friend.'

From then on all he could remember was darkness, and then waking up in the hospital, sore and with a bandage on his head.

He hadn't even bothered to open his eyes, so he just let himself drift back into sleep.

* * *

'We found Sasuke at Naruto's headstone. He was too cold to move.' A tall masked ninja fidgeted as he reported to the Hokage. She sighed, 'I guess we should put night guards there too, since he _somehow_ went past _you,_ his own guards.' She glared at the team.

The leader tugged at his collar, 'Sorry, madam, I promise it won't happen again. How much longer do we have to guard him?'

'Well, I guess right now you're off duty, because he spent a whole night in the rain and somehow got a concussion. So he's stuck at the hospital.' Sakura kept the stern tone. Perhaps she should have put a sensor type in the guarding team, so they couldn't be fooled so easily. Still, this was only the second time this had happened for a few months, and Sasuke seemed to have accepted his fate, which admittedly was not in his style.

'Also, it's _miss_ to you.' Sakura dismissed them and went to look through the window at her late teammate's monument. Would Naruto keep Sasuke imprisoned like this? Probably not. He'd likely try his best to fix him, and make the village accept him.

Well, she wasn't Naruto.

This was the best she could do.

She sat back at her desk to hopefully finish at least some of the paperwork.

She was so tired, but the previous night she'd had an appointment at the resting place of the Leaf's greatest hero.


End file.
